Garden Flora

The oldest rose fossil was found in Colorado and dates to 35 million years ago. Marigolds, infamous for their ability to self-seed, are named for an Etruscan god who sprang from a ploughed field. And daffodils—an icon of spring—were introduced to Britain by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago.

From the Back Cover

The plants we grow in our gardens have dual personalities. All of them originated in the wild, and evolved highly specific traits in response to their environments. But then humans took them up—either for their beauty or their useful qualities—and changed them, altering their colors, foliage, fragrance, size, and hardiness in order to align them with our wants and needs. Kingsbury relates these absorbing histories with erudition as well as a story-teller’s instinct for revealing detail. In all, he covers 133 plant groups that are the mainstays of our gardens. The time you spend poring over the pages of Garden Flora will not only bring you pleasure; its rich and varied stories will also make you a better, and better-informed, gardener.